ISLAMABAD   -  The top election body (ECP) has notified 39 reserved seats in line with the Supreme Court’s verdict on these controversial seats.

The ECP has also uploaded the notification on its website to declare 39 MNAs as the PTI members who had shown their affiliation with the PTI in their nomination papers. This notification was formally issued Wednesday last.

In a unique majority verdict, the Supreme Court on July 12 had declared the PTI eligible to receive reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the national and provincial assemblies, giving it a new lease on life in the legislature by declaring it to be a parliamentary party.

The majority judgement explained that 39 out of the 80 MNAs, shown by the ECP as PTI candidates, belonged to the party. The ECP last week had decided to implement the apex court’s decision on the reserved seats. “The 41 candidates who have been declared independents had neither mentioned PTI in their nomination papers nor disclosed their affiliation with the party. And also did not submit any party ticket. Therefore, the returning officers allowed them to participate in the election as independent candidates,” according to the electoral watchdog.

The ECP notification said the following “returned candidates against general seats of National Assembly are declared to have been returned as candidates” of PTI.

The 39 MNAs include Amjad Ali Khan, Saleem Rehman, Sohail Sultan, Muhammad Bashir Khan, Mehboob Shah, Junaid Akbar, Ali Khan Jadoon, Asad Qaiser, Shahram Khan, Mujahid Al, Anwar Taj, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Arbab Amir Ayub, Shandana Gulzar Khan, Sher Ali Arbab, Asif Khan, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Shahid Khan, Nasim Ali Shah, Sher Afzal Khan, Usama Ahmed Mela, Shafqat Abbas, Ali Afzal Sahi, Rai Haider Ali Khan, Nisar Ahmed, Rana Atif, Changaze Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Ali Sarfraz, Khurram Shahzad Virk, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, Rana Muhammad Faraz Noon, Mumtaz Mustafa, Muhammad Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Umber Majeed, Awais Haider Jakhar and Zartaj Gul.

Meanwhile, the ECP has decided to approach the apex court to seek clarification on a ruling regarding the allocation of reserved seats to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

According to sources, the ECP, with some legal arguments, is going to approach the top court that PTI has not conducted mandatory intra-party elections. The electoral watchdog raised questions about the legitimacy of PTI’s party structure.

Earlier, a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, ruled that the PTI is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah announced the 8-5 majority verdict, setting aside the Peshawar High Court’s order wherein it had upheld the ECP decision denying the reserved seats to the SIC.

The reserved seats issue was raised when 80 PTI-backed independent candidates emerged victorious in the February 8 elections. The opposition members then approached the electoral watchdog seeking the allocation of reserved seats.

The decision by the ECP did not go in favour of the party as it was denied allocating the reserved seats to the SIC via its 4-1 majority verdict on March 4. So, these seats were then allocated to other parliamentary parties.

On it, the opposition party had approached the court when it was refused to allocate the reserved seats due to the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates before the deadline. The PHC later upheld the ECP’s decision, leading the SIC to appeal to the Supreme Court.